Brazil's QGEP: Carcara field wells could rival Lula's output

1/3/2013

Brazil's QGEP: Carcara field wells could rival Lula's output

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazilian oil and natural gas company QGEP Participacoes has said that wells at the promising Carcara subsalt prospect could eventually rival production at the Lula offshore field that pushed the Latin American country into the oil-industry spotlight.

Flow rates and reservoir conditions at the Carcara discovery are superior to the Lula field, which has several of Brazil's best-performing oil wells, producing about 28,000 bopd, QGEP Exploration Director Sergio Michelucci said during a conference call. Lula, which currently produces about 100,000 bopd, is estimated to hold recoverable reserves of between 5 billion and 8 billion boe.

"We imagine, if everything is confirmed, that would be the floor for [Carcara] production," Mr. Michelucci said.

State-run Petrobras joined partners QGEP, Portugal's Galp Energia, and Barra Energia in announcing that work on the Carcara well had ended but declined to give a size estimate for the find.

The Carcara discovery generated industry excitement because it is among the thickest reservoirs ever discovered in Brazil's offshore subsalt region. The subsalt is a cluster of ultra-deepwater oil finds made off the coasts of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo states. Carcara encountered a reservoir 471 m thick, the companies said.

Development of Carcara remains well into the future, with development drilling planned for 2016 and 2017. First oil from the well wouldn't be produced until 2018.

While the Carcara consortium hasn't divulged how much oil they think they've found, Mr. Michelucci said multiple floating storage, production and offloading vessels, or FPSOs, would be needed.

"For what we imagine the volume of the accumulation to be, certainly we're going to need more than one FPSO," the executive said.

QGEP expects to have a new certified estimate of the oil reserves contained in the company's offshore blocks by the end of the first half, Chief Financial Officer Paula Costa said during the call. The report would include a preliminary estimate for Carcara, the executives added.

Petrobras is operator of the BM-S-8 block containing the Carcara discovery, with a 66% stake. Galp holds 14%, with QGEP and Barra Energia each retaining 10%.